A Dark Past, A Brighter Future
by princessbuttercups
Summary: All she's heard for past couple of days is "Mr. Evans this, Mr. Evans that" and Rachel has no idea why. Or at least she doesn't until she finally meets the tall, blond haired male responsible for her daughter's education.


**Title**: A Dark Past, A Brighter Future  
**Characters**: Sam/Rachel  
**Summary**: All she's heard for past couple of days is "Mr. Evans this, Mr. Evans that" and Rachel has no idea why. Or at least she doesn't until she finally meets the tall, blond haired male responsible for her daughter's education.

"Mr. Evans said to me that if I continue with my maths work, I'll be really good at it," Rachel's daughter tells her when they meet just outside of school. She smiles down at her little girl, holds her close for a moment before leading her home.

"He's right, Nessa. What does mummy always tell you?" she squeezes her daughters hand and pulls her away from the road. She can't help but be paranoid around the busy traffic of a New York street, even if this is said to be the safest part of the city.

Nessa smiles, skipping along absent mindedly before she joins her mother to say, "Practice makes perfect."

"Exactly, and that's just what you will do."

When they get back to the apartment, Rachel sends the 6 year old to her room to finish her homework whilst she goes to the living room to do her own. The perks of working from home were fairly straight forward. She gets to work her own hours and do what she wanted as long as she got some work done; and her most recent assignment was to review any off-Broadway show she wants.

It pains her to do such a thing, but performing on Broadway is her past.

So, she takes out a recent copy of Time Out and flicks to the page she needs, checking what's on as she sits and relishes the silence that last for a few moments before she hears the familiar sound of Nessa slamming her bedroom door shut behind her.

"Mummy," she says, joining Rachel on the couch. "Tell me about Broadway again."

At this point, they're both cuddled together on the couch and Rachel places her magazine on the coffee table before shifting over to Nessa, her hand in her daughter's hair. It's a comfort thing for the both of them, and almost always the six year old ends up asleep when Rachel does it.

"Well," she begins, forcing a smile. She tries to stay happy when she reminisces about Broadway, but there's always a part of her that feels a tremendous amount of pain.

She can't tell her own daughter that the reason she can't be on Broadway is because of her birth and her father too. Rachel doesn't regret being a mother; Nessa is definitely one of the best things that has ever happened to her. It's just; she wishes she didn't have to give up her dream career to have her in her life.

"I got my first major role fresh out college," Rachel starts the story on the happiest note, remembering her first stint as Maria in a very off-Broadway production of West Side Story. "And after that, the offers started to roll in. I was Janet Weiss in another off-Broadway show, and I did a charity event in which I played Eponine from Les Miserables. It wasn't until I met your father in auditions for Wicked a month or so after my last run on Rocky Horror that I realized I wanted to be a mother. And then I had my precious little baby Nessa," Rachel presses a light kiss against her baby's nose and laughs when she realizes the girl is sound asleep.

Her story may have been a little untrue, but there wasn't a happy way to tell her that her father ruined her life and her career. Some things are better left unsaid.

The next day she finds out about parent-teacher meetings after eavesdropping on a couple of gossiping mothers. She just happens to overheard that Mr. Evans is one of the best looking teachers that gossiping mother number one has ever seen; and she's a little too excited to make an appointment.

She calls up the school and asks to speak to Nessa's teacher when she knows recess has started.

"Hey," Mr. Evans says once the call is connected.

"Hi, Mr. Evans. I'm Rachel Berry, Nessa's mother. I was wondering what time your earliest appointment was for this afternoons parent teacher meeting."

She hears coughing and mumbling down the line and she wonders if he is okay.

"Uh, my earliest time is straight after school, 2:45. Does that work for you, Mrs Berry?"

"It's Miss. Miss Berry," she tells him, then realizes she has yet to answer his question, "But yes, that works."

She spends the rest of her day in her bedroom, contemplating what to wear before she leaves for the meeting. It might be strange to dress up for a school event but if this teacher is as good looking as most mothers say he is, Rachel knows it's at least worth a shot.

The walk to Nessa's school is short, which normally means she ends up being the earliest of most parents after school. She smiles at the other two adults who stand waiting for their own kids and stares at her watch. Only a few minutes left now.

The loud bell rings in Rachel's ear, and it's almost as deafening as the high pitched squeals of excited children rushing out of their classrooms to go home. There are a few mothers waiting outside Mr. Evans' classroom when Rachel finds it, and she smiles to the ones she recognizes before she walks in.

Noticing a tall, blond figure at the front of the classroom rubbing off a whiteboard, Rachel smiles and takes in the ever so wonderful sight. His back looks like it's made of muscles and the thought of seeing them makes Rachel bite her lip. Slowly, she starts to remember where she is and what she's supposed to be doing and says, "Hello Mr. Evans, I'm here to talk about my daughter, Nessa Berry."

The blond man turns around, grins and holds his hand out. "You can call me Sam, Miss Berry," he tells her as their hands meet.

She blushes for some reason at the thought of him remembering her name from their call earlier.

They spend the rest of their five minutes together laughing and discussing Nessa's progress in her lessons and just as she's about to go, Sam turns to her and says, "I hope to see you around sometime, Rachel."

Another blush appears as she waves goodbye, leaving and allowing the next mother to meet him so she can meet up with her daughter.

The next time she meets him, she's at a bar with her friend Quinn. Quinn's currently flirting with one of the guys beside her so Rachel is nursing a martini at the bar as she daydreams and stares at the waiter.

"Need a drink?" someone asks.

"I'm good thank you," she shows the man her martini. Then she notices that it's Sam and pats the empty stool beside her, inviting him to sit with her and order his own drink in a much more subtle way.

Sam sits down beside her silently and orders a beer. "How have you been, Rachel?"

Shrugging, Rachel doesn't really know what to say. Out of the corner of her eye she spots Quinn leaving with said guy from before and laughs', noticing that she's got all night to talk to her daughter's unbelievably attractive teacher.

"I've been just great Sam, how have you been?"

"Good, yeah. A class full of 6 year olds can tire you out though," he laughs, waits for her to join in, and then continues. "But I've been meaning to ask, why do I recognize you so much?"

As much as she hoped that some people wouldn't recognize her, they are always some who ask her "aren't you…?" Luckily, they never ask her such questions in front of Nessa, so her daughter never hears anything Rachel doesn't want her to.

"I was on Broadway a while back, 6-7 years ago to be exact," she explains, finishing off her martini quickly as she waits for a response.

Sam finally knows who she is, "Oh, you're _that _Rachel Berry," he laughs. "I think I saw you in a production of Rocky Horror once."

"I never would have pegged you for a Broadway boy."

"I'm not."

They both laugh.

"No, but in all seriousness, I was dragged there by a few co-workers one year. They kept making jokes that I was ripped like Rocky for months before _and_ afterwards," he frowns.

Rachel can't help but laugh at his statement; she hopes that one day she can see how ripped he is.

Those thoughts are inappropriate, she tells herself. But for some reason, Rachel doesn't care. Her attraction to Sam is just so powerful and she blames it on the few drinks that she has. Liquid courage, that's all it is.

"Yeah, I heard that things got pretty messy for your career back then…" he says a little quieter. Rachel sits up a little straighter when he does and Sam recognises that he's made a mistake. He doesn't have time to correct it, because as soon as his mouth opens, so does hers.

"I have to go," she says curtly, quickly collecting her things before she pays her bill. The brunette turns to Sam and gives him an apologetic look, hoping he understands that she's just not ready to talk about it yet. Then, she leaves.

The next time they meet is a month or so after their disastrous meeting at the bar.

It's nearing the summer and Rachel knows this is probably the last time she'll see Sam, so she attends Nessa's spring fair and helps out with the face painting stool. There's another mum, a Mrs. Hudson helping her out and they're both currently painting butterflies on the faces of the ever so cute Lopez twins Celia and Ale.

"Hi, Tina, hey Rachel," Sam addresses them when the twins run off. Tina smiles and takes her next customer, and oddly enough it's Nessa.

"Hi Sam," she smiles. She proceeds to clean up the paint that she's somehow managed to spill and whilst she does that, Sam sits down on the chair provided. "What are you doing?"

He laughs, smirking as he tells her that he's there to get his face painted.

Faking a huff, Rachel recollects her equipment and begins to dab at a colour before she realises that she hasn't asked him what he wants yet.

"I'll be Spiderman for the day," he nods excitedly and Rachel laughs, forgetting about what happened between them before as she plays around with colours.

His new look isn't too bad, Rachel thinks she's done a pretty good job. Besides, Sam could probably manage to look sexy in anything…

Nessa comes over when Rachel's finished and laughs at her teacher, says he makes the best superhero ever and then runs off. Rachel shakes her head at her own daughter and thinks that maybe the reason Nessa talks about Sam so much is because she may have a crush on him… How would her daughter feel if she found out that Rachel likes Sam too?

"I've been meaning to ask you something," Spiderman asks and Rachel raises an eyebrow in response. "Are you and Nessa free Saturday?"

Sam and Rachel exchange details when the next kid comes up claiming he wants to look as cool as Mr. Evans and Rachel goes back to work, promising to call him that night.

And she does.

They have been on a few dates but Rachel's still unsure of their status. Nessa really likes having Sam around the apartment though and the newly 7 year old manages to make them watch Disney movies until she falls asleep.

Even when Nessa's tucked in her own bed and fast asleep, Sam and Rachel do not do much. They're still at the high school stage of making out; mostly because Rachel gets nervous if things move too fast. It's a fact she's not a virgin but she hasn't been intimate since Nessa's conception and she's cautious – seeing as her last partner was so atrocious before. Not that she thinks Sam is anything like him, but still.

Sam asks her to talk about him one night when they are in bed and Rachel is taken aback by it. She wonders why he cares about the man who broke her heart into a million pieces and ruined her life in the sense that he publicly accused her of seducing both him and the writers: the words hurt to say but she knows she has to tell him.

So, she tells him everything, explaining how said male was the one who seduced her and fooled her into believing that she was his everything and other things to that extent only to skip out on her when she found herself pregnant. "Apparently, as he said, I was not careful enough and I deserved to be publicly outed for who I really was, a 'slut.' He told over exaggerated stories about my "diva" attitude and how I had been using pre-recorded tracks when I performed," she recalled.

He kisses her through the tears and whispers sweet nothings as she sobs in his arms. She's just about composed when Nessa walks in their room after waking up from a nightmare and climbs in between them purposely, falling asleep in a matter of seconds. Sam's humming something as he lies down next to her and Rachel smiles.

So, some jerk she once knew may be Nessa's biological father but Sam? He was definitely Nessa's _real _dad.

Luckily, both Sam and Nessa liked the sound of that.

And two years later, after the birth of Sam and Rachel's first child Leila, the four of them became the Evans family. _Rachel _Evans. It sounds just about perfect to her.


End file.
